Saint Laurent Spring 2016

With Courtney Love in the front row, the tiaras weren’t exactly a surprise. What was a little provocative, however, were the clothes. It’s not like Hedi Slimane has been getting terribly conceptual during his tenure at Saint Laurent, but his Spring collection is deliberately middlebrow: slipdresses that were shapeless enough to suggest fashion of the fast variety, a distressed leather bomber jacket that resembled something rescued from a bin at a thrift store, normcore denim shortalls that some of the fashion industry’s junior set may have rocked in six, seventh, and eighth grades. Outwear was a focus, namely because most of the lacy, sequined little somethings won’t stave of much of a springtime chill. This collection will likely result in some angsty critics—is Slimane deliberately trying to unravel the very fabric of luxury?—but whatever he’s doing is resonating with shoppers, who can’t seem to load up on his bags, shoes, and sexy little dresses fast enough.